Karachay horse

[2] Karachay horses are summered in rugged mountain country where there are wide changes in temperature and humidity, and wintered in the foothill and plains with some hay feeding.

They have a long head, often with a Roman nose, as well as agile, alert ears and well-developed whiskers.

Karachay horses have a medium length, well-muscled neck, relatively straight shoulders and low withers.

It was first bred for military and agricultural use, by Karachays around the 14th-15th centuries in the climatic and geographical conditions of the North Caucasus.

The German researcher Peter Simon Pallas (1793) wrote: "They grow a small but hardy and hot breed of horses, known for their outstanding qualities".

[9] At the end of the 19th century there were local stud farms in Karachay where some herds included 500-1000 horses.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Karachay played a significant role, supplying most of the Kuban Cossack army`s regiments with chargers.

In one month the same horses finished a race from Piatigorsk to Rostov, a distance of 600 km in five days over very muddy roads and trails.

[12] In 1998 a group of Karachay-Cherkessia horsemen with three Karachay horses ascended the eastern summit of Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe - an unprecedented act.

Special credit goes to an expert on horse breeding, Klych Geriy Urusov, who was the mastermind behind this equestrian conquest of Elbrus.

Cavalier Koratchai. Grove, Florence Craufurd. Le Caucase. 1899. P. 32.